Have an Ambiguous Valentine's day
by eMu3
Summary: Ever wonder how an inter-racial same-sex couple would handle celebrating Valentine's Day in Japan? Yeah, the Weiss and Schwarz are kinda curious about that too…


A/N: _italics means telepathic communication_

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"Hey, Omi! You okay?" Yohji called uselessly across the store. The Koneko-no-sume-ie was swamped with schoolgirls which, though hardly unusual, was just as annoying as ever and the bishounen who ran the store weren't in as good shape as normal.

A nervevgrating mission had rendered Ken useless for work due to a broken foot (the flaky assassin seemed awfully cheerful about his painful injury-this mystery was explained when Omi mentioned that a Stah-bucksu had opened up next to his school, thusly his female schoolmates were now hopped up on espresso when they visited 'their bishies'). So in addition to the store being just plain crowded, they were also short-staffed. Omi unfortunately had to leave for school in the mornings, leaving Aya and Yohji to man the shop, and only one of them could leave before closing; two able bodied individuals were necessary for a closing (i.e. not Momoe) and it would be just plain mean to have less than three man the school girl rush. Which meant either Aya or Yohji had to work open to close shifts while also handling nighttime assassin work.

Aya being Aya and therefore armed with a very effective death glare meant Yohji was on his third consecutive open to close shift with two more clopenings ahead of him before Sunday. Aya being Aya also meant that at the first high pitched giggle, he'd ducked into the store room insisting he needed to get some arrangements done before closing. Leaving Yohji and Omi, the bishies found least intimidating by the schoolgirls, to eject loiterers and start some of the closing procedures. At this rate they would be getting out at midnight, which would not make Kritiker happy since they were also supposed to go on a stake-out for a mission in progress.

"Omi!" Yohji called again. Instead of helping a potential customer (Yohji would have died of shock if any of the teenage pests actually had more than a few yen on them) the kid was gazing at a display of arrangements Aya had done that morning, which prominently featured red and white roses.

"O-o-o-oh! Is Omi-chan okay?" A concerned admirer squealed. Suddenly Omi was besieged with shrieking girls trying to feel his forehead and take his pulse. Yohji snorted-in his opinion the kid deserved it. Within twenty seconds two tweens aggressive enough to put Ouka-hime to shame were practically playing tug of war with the kid.

"Hey, hey! Assaulting a florist can get you banned from the store!" Yohji said. He couldn't even tell if his threat had been heard; he could barely hear himself above the squeaky voices. "You can look but you can't touch!" Yohji added. He would need to apologize to Omi later. They'd discovered long ago that asking if someone else was okay was the equivalent of asking the girls to maul your coworker in fan-girl language.

_Aw…poor kittens._

Yohji's head whipped around, looking for a shock of orange hair. His heart was hammering, but his brain quickly caught up with his reactions. Schuldig wasn't stupid enough to show up while he was working; he'd yet to be stupid enough to visit while his team was awake, let alone during broad daylight.

His concern was answered with a mental chuckle. _Oh Katzchen, I'm fully aware the next time little Bombay sees me he's going to make every attempt he can to skewer me._

_Aya's not too thrilled with Schwarz lately either. Omi's had to be quiet about his relationship with Nagi._ Yohji pointed out.

_I didn't think Fujimiya paid enough attention to you guys to notice a little thing like Omi's year long committed relationship to my teammate, _Schuldig "said" with a mental snort.

Yohji frowned. Come to think of it during his thirty minute freak-out rant upon discovering Schwarz was involved in his sister's kidnapping the short tempered assassin hadn't mentioned thing one about Omi and Nagi, which should have been his first course of action. God, did he really not notice that Omi had been in a serious relationship on-again-off-again for over a year?

_You're surprised?_

_Well…_ Yohji couldn't think of an answer to that. But hey, at least he wouldn't notice Yohji was banging a Schwarz if he couldn't even tell Omi was in love with one.

_How romantic you are today, _Schuldig thought sarcastically._ I just know I can expect a truly spectacular Valentine's Day with you this week._

_Was that more sarcasm?_ Yohji asked. Of course he was aware Valentine's Day was coming up, but it wasn't something that he focused on or anything. Hm.

Last year they'd gotten so much chocolate that when they'd melted it down they'd had enough to chocolate-dip a week's worth of dinners, this after several batches of s'mores. Aya had looked sick when Ken had presented him with a chocolate covered steak. Omi had had a good giggle until he was given his chocolate covered tofu.

_Oh Yotan, you're so lucky you're good looking_, Schuldig thought with a long-suffering sigh.

_Look I can't be the only person who has a hard time identifying your sarcastic voi-_

_Careful Kitten. The schoolgirls are starting to think you're not well either. The glazed look is going to get you glomped._

_Then stop distracting me!_ Yohji near-growled. He noticed that he was indeed now garnering concerned mutterings from the fan-girls. Before they could rush him he moved towards the register counter and grabbed a watering can. His instinct had been to have some sort of deterrent for any potential glompers, but when his brain caught up with his reflexes he realized he now had an excuse to go outside.

"Omittchi! I'm gonna water the plants outside. Can you handle the sales by yourself? Okaygoodbye!" Before his flustered coworker could say anything Yohji ducked outside with the empty watering can. He tossed it next to one of the big potted plants by the door and extracted a pack of cigarettes and lighter from his pocket.

_You're not allowed in my car if you're going to smoke._

_Who says I want to spend my cigarette break with you?_ Yohji returned as he put his unlit cigarette away and crossed the street to Schuldig's car.

The rival assassin was lazing in the driver's seat with a latte of some sort and a piece of strawberry pocky in his mouth. There was a coffee in the cup holder and a paper bag on the passenger seat. Yohji got in, opened the bag and extracted a croissant.

"Thanks," Yohji said, taking a sip of the coffee. "I can't begin to tell you how much I need this caffeine."

"Of course you do, you need to keep up with those little screeching freaks. Once again I'm glad my employers allow me dignity enough to avoid schoolgirls," Schuldig said, shaking his head.

"Mm, because working with Shrient is so much more dignified. Besides, you're a slave. I instantly win all dignity battles."

"Sure, rub it in. You're an asshole sometimes, you know that?" Schuldig asked pleasantly.

"You know coming from you that actually is some cause for concern," Yohji said with a laugh. "Seriously though, I could use a smoke."

"My favorite t-shirt smells like your ashtray, you're not getting my car too," Schuldig snapped.

There was a comfortable silence as Schuldig munched his pocky and Yohji ate his croissant. Yohji broke the silence when something occurred to him. "Wait a minute, you rip on me for going to Stah-bucksu. You're drinking a latte."

"Yes, and?"

"You're a fucking hypocrite!"

"Yes, and?" Schuldig repeated with a wide grin. He took a slow sip of the latte and gave an exaggerated 'mm'. "Nags got hooked on the place and brought me back a custom beverage. Seriously, try this thing. It's like crack."

He knew better, but that still didn't stop him. Yohji, who took his extremely strong coffee black, gagged on a small sip of Schuldig's liquid-sugar-with-a-hint-of-something-vaguely-coffee-flavored latte. "What the hell is that?" He yelped.

"Caramel latte with eight pumps of vanilla syrup and four shots of espresso. Brad says the things are gonna kill me but if that's the case I'll die a hell of a lot happier than when the Organization finally does us in." The assassin's left leg was shaking. Yohji spotted several empty Stah-bucksu cups on the floor of the messy car and hoped they were a week's accumulation.

"I should get back in there soon. Omi's gonna kill me," Yohji muttered, while making no move at all to leave.

"Mm. Off like lightning you are," Schuldig observed dryly. Yohji took a slow sip of coffee.

"Thanks though. This was unusually thoughtful of you."

Schuldig shrugged. "There's a Starbucks up the street from your place so, y'know. What the hell, right?"

"They put one near the shop!" Yohji exclaimed. He leaned out the car to get a better look. "Mother fucker! There's one next to the high school too!"

Schuldig laughed.

"Oh, enjoying my distress, are you?"

"Of course Katzchen. You're cute when you're miserable," Schuldig said with a smirk. "I suppose you're extra busy because of the holiday?"

"Hm? No, not really. Well, Aya ordered a small display of obligation chocolates for the register as an impulse buy, but we don't really go in for the Valentine's Day trend. I mean it's not like we actually care how well the shop does, y'know?" Yohji explained.

Schuldig looked confused. "But you're florists. You should be making a killing."

"Why would we? I told you, we don't really sell chocolate."

Schuldig blinked. "This has gotta be one of those cultural difference things. In the West people buy flowers _and_ chocolates on Valentine's Day. Sometimes teddy bears and balloons too."

"Wow. You guys really go all out. Well, you girls really."

"Girls?" Schuldig asked. "Um, it's the guys who have to spend the big bucks. I mean the girls buy stuff too, but nothing like their boyfriends."

"Oh. No, only girls buy chocolate on Valentine's Day. If we return interest we get them something on White day. That's next month. We usually close the shop on White day. Way too many fan-girls think they have an actual chance of us returning their interest-chocolate," Yohji explained.

"Wow. That's really weird," Schuldig assessed. "So…so you don't really do anything on Valentine's day then?"

"Not really. Well I eat a lot of chocolate and me and Ken usually make some experimental s'mores, but that's about it," Yohji answered. Schuldig appeared to be lost in thought. "Why? Did you want to do something?"

"I was thinking about it," He admitted.

Now Yohji was surprised. Theirs was a relationship of hanging out and sex that so far had avoided definition, but from the little Schuldig had said of the holiday it seemed to be something for couples. Was he intending to imply that they…that they were…

"Well that's a relief. Would have been tricky as hell to get a florist a present," Schuldig assessed. "So you guys have a mission tonight?"

Yohji scowled. "Stake-out with Aya."

"Ouch. Don't you usually work those with Hidaka?"

"He's got a broken foot. Besides lately he's been working with Omi. So I get to spend six hours on a roof with the crankiest assassin I've ever met. Fun-fun!" Yohji said with fake cheerfulness.

"What time you getting in?"

"Two. If I'm lucky. Four if I'm not. Then I get to open again. This week has really been sucking, by the by. So, y'know, thanks again for the coffee. I really don't want to get out of this car," Yohji said with a nervous laugh. He ran a hand through the bangs that had escaped his ponytail.

"In at four, open at ten…that means you get five hours of sleep?"

"Pretty much."

"So I guess you wouldn't want me to stop by at all this week," Schuldig said.

Yohji's head snapped up to better regard his fuck-buddy. Was he kidding? He suddenly reached forward and grabbed Schuldig's face to pull him in for a kiss. Schuldig quickly swallowed the pocky he'd been eating as his mouth was suddenly invaded with a foreign tongue. Yohji ended the kiss as suddenly as he started, leaving Schuldig short of breath and somewhat confused.

"I'm having the week from hell. If you want to come by and see me that would make it so much better than it's going to be otherwise. Especially if you bring coffee and croissants."

"I think I can do that," Schuldig answered slowly. "You know despite the telepathy you do a pretty good job of keeping me off balance."

Yohji grinned. "I try." He gulped down the last of his coffee and opened the car door. "See you tonight?"

"Yep. See ya then Katzchen."

_Salut mon petit chou,_ Yohji thought warmly.

* * *

"Did you do any work at all?" Aya growled. Yohji wanted to call him on spending the shift in the supply closet but as Aya was holding a broom he thought better of it.

"There were too many customers to start the closing procedures," Omi answered tiredly. He was windexing down the windows, one of which had a disturbing amount of lipstick on it.

Aya didn't seem to find that a good enough answer, but luckily his disapproving reaction was to become even more anti-social and ignore them. Yohji was so short tempered and tired that that was a blessing. He counted down the register while the other two cleaned up, and got the deposit envelope ready.

"Hey guys, I'm gonna bring this stuff down to the bank. Thought I'd grab some takeout since we pretty much gotta leave straight away for the mission. Want anything?"

"There's some leftover ramen in the fridge," Aya muttered by way of answer.

"Good enough. You want anything Chibi?" Yohji asked.

"I'll come with you if you don't mind," Omi said. "I had something I wanted to talk to you about anyway Yohji-kun. You don't mind finishing the closing, do you Aya-kun? Okaygoodbye!" Omi all but pushed Yohji towards the door, who was moving somewhat slowly due to shock over Omi's behavior. Aya was apparently too stunned to react as well, because they managed to make a getaway to Yohji's car.

"Wow Omi. So what was so important to make you bail on Aya like that?" Yohji asked as he drove towards the bank.

"Oh it's just a relationship thing. Um…so y'know how…y'know how I'm going out with Nagi?" Omi muttered. He didn't really talk about his relationship if he could help it. He obviously felt some guilt over asking Yohji to break it off with Schuldig while he'd been pursuing his own relationship with an 'enemy' (the two Weiss were perceptive enough to realize if Schwarz wanted them dead they'd be dead). Not that Omi knew how quickly Yohji had folded when he'd tried to break it off with Schuldig, but still. It seemed rude to rub his relationship in Yohji's face when he'd interfered with the older assassin's love life.

"Yeah. Things still going good with you guys?" Yohji asked. He was fully aware the kids were in a state of warm and gooey bliss thanks to Schuldig, who found a happy and optimistic Nagi to be one of the most annoying roommates possible.

"Yeah…" Omi trailed off happily. "We're doing really well. I just…I'm not sure what to do about Valentine's Day though."

"Wait, what? Why?" Yohji asked.

Omi frowned. "Well, see I know we're both boys so we should probably wait for White day, right? I don't know, I don't know what the rules are for this stuff. But anyway I realized something. Nagi's been brought up by Westerners, and I guess for them Valentine's day is a generic couple thing and not, like, y'know just for girls with chocolate. It's more like Christmas. So I'm not sure if he's expecting me to do something romantic, or if I do something he'll think I'm being womanly because, you know, he's not a Westerner himself. What do you think I should do?"

Yohji frowned. "I don't know. I've never dealt with that before." He wondered again if he should get Schuldig a present. "Did you talk to him about it?"

"Um…if I did wouldn't that make whatever I do less romantic?"

"Probably. But on the plus side you probably wouldn't pick the wrong answer," Yohji pointed out. Omi considered. "One of the perks of dating a guy is you can be more straightforward."

"I dunno. I'd rather be spontaneous. Maybe I'll, like, have a present just in case and only give it to him if he gives me one. Do you think it'd be cheap of me to give him flowers? I was looking on the internet about it last night, and I guess you're supposed to give your sweetie roses on Valentine's Day? I mean, if you're from America anyway. And Crawford-san is American and Nagi gets along better with him than with the other Schwarz." Farfarello and Schuldig were referred to as warmly by the petite hacker as Aya talking about Reiji Takatori.

"Really?" Hm. Maybe he should give Schuldig some flowers. That would be easy enough; they had a bunch of roses in the shop that weren't moving…oh. That's why Omi wasn't going to give something he'd grabbed from work to his boyfriend. Cheap, un-thoughtful present. Right.

"Nah, I guess I shouldn't give him flowers. I don't know…I don't know what to do! Oh Yohji-kun, what if he's expecting something? What if he does something thoughtful for me but I don't have anything for him? But, but then what if I do and he thinks I'm a weird girly idiot?"

"Don't worry about it kid. I mean, does Nagi really care that much about stupid gestures and holidays?"

"Well no…not really. I guess he wouldn't be that upset. And we've been doing really good lately," Omi said, looking calmed. "Okay, okay I'll do something small. Because I love him and I want to do something nice, not because I have to for the holiday."

"Sounds like a good way to go Chibi," Yohji agreed.

While they were picking up their take out they passed by a conveni with a display of interest-chocolates. Yohji frowned, wondering again if he should get something for Schuldig. He was close to stopping inside when Omi asked him what he was doing and he decided against it. It's not like he could do chocolate shopping in front of the kid anyway.

* * *

"Oh my God I'm going to kill myself!" Yohji groaned loudly as he shuffled down the hallway towards his room. Aya actually snarled as he slammed the door to his bedroom shut.

They had indeed sat on a rooftop for six and a half hours and accomplished NOTHING. They had however been rained on, sleeted on, chased by rats and even discovered that that puddle Aya had knelt down in smelled a lot like urine.

Yohji swore Aya had rubbed his butt against the passenger seat to spread the misery (of course they'd taken Yohji's car to the bad neighborhood).

He kicked open his bedroom door, intent on collapsing onto his bed for the maximum five and a half hours of sleep he could get (which unfortunately made it an unusually good night). The worst thing about it was that since the stake-out was fruitless he would need to do another one the following night.

Fucking Ken. That smug bastard had the best-timed injury ever and Yohji was seriously considering breaking his own foot to join him.

Yohji peeled off his soaking coat without turning the light on and plopped onto the bed. He was very surprised when it yelped, and he leapt for his light switch, heart hammering in his chest.

Schuldig was sitting up in the bed blinking confusedly, normally messy hair in a heightened state of disarray from his napping. He was wearing one of Yohji's t-shirts and a pair of boxers.

"Oh man! I forgot you were coming over tonight. You scared the shit out of me!"

"I scared _you_? You flopped onto me freakin' wet and freezing!" Schuldig hissed. He rubbed his arms, which were goose-bumped from his sudden contact with the cold assassin.

"Sorry, sorry," Yohji said in a breathy voice. "How long have you been waiting for me?" He spied wet clothes stuffed in a shopping bag on the floor and figured Schuldig had walked over during the downpour.

"Not that long. I brought McDonalds this time. Figured if you wanted any sleep tonight I'd better hold off on the Starbucks," Schuldig said around a yawn. There was a half-eaten McFlurry and an apple pie on his nightstand, as well as a bag with fries and a burger in it. Yohji sniffed eagerly and moved to sit next to Schuldig on the bed, happily interested in the fast food. Schuldig had a knack for locating foreign food places, having expressed an utter loathing for Japanese food which he professed to have too much hidden fish for his liking.

"Uh uh. You're getting changed first. Into something warm," Schuldig decided.

"Because I want to, not because you told me to," Yohji said defensively as he sought out a clean pair of pajamas. His work clothes were damned uncomfortable when they got wet. He even toweled off his sopping hair before getting into bed with Schuldig, who snuggled against him as he ate his fries. "Are you working this week?" Yohji asked.

"Oh Yotan, we've been over this. I get to make conversation over your work because I'm going to know anyway, but you're not allowed to know anything about my job. Remember?" Schuldig reminded him sleepily.

"Right, right. But you are allowed to tell me generic things. You know, work sucks this week. Work sucks a little less than usual this week?" Yohji reminded him. He still didn't like that rule, but Schuldig was pretty stubborn about it and it was that or not see him outside of battle at all.

"Work sucks pretty bad this week," Schuldig murmured. "It was worse last week though. I'm glad I got to cheat up enough time to go see you. Nagi'd kill me if he knew. He's hardly had enough time to chat with Bombay online."

"Really? Huhn. Omi said things were going good with them."

"Eh. I don't understand those two. Computer geek dating rules are beyond me," Schuldig muttered.

'Because we're so much more straightforward.' Yohji thought, aware Schuldig had probably picked up on it. Yep, there it was, that slightly defensive stiffness of his posture as he pulled away ever so slightly.

"I didn't mean to-"

"You didn't. And even if you did you can't control your thoughts. So I guess you want to get some sleep, right?" Schuldig asked.

"I'm going to finish eating first."

"Ah." The telepath sank back against Yohji's pillow and gazed at the ceiling. He looked uncomfortable and Yohji couldn't for the life of him figure out why. Schuldig continued to be a puzzle to him. If he asked a question, even a casual one, he was answered with bitter sarcasm. His detective skills weren't much help either. Thanks to Schuldig's unusual upbringing and just his general nature, any insight Yohji thought he gleaned off of him usually turned out to be flawed.

Yohji ate his fast food in silence, and by the time he'd finished Schuldig had nodded off. He settled against the slumbering assassin, lulled to sleep with the scent of Schuldig's cheap shampoo in his face.

* * *

The next morning Schuldig was gone. He always was. He said if he spent the night Yohji would wake up with a migraine, that it was the inevitable result of spending too much time in close contact with a telepath. Yohji suspected there were other reasons; he just didn't buy Schuldig choosing to do anything for a selfless motivation.

He yawned, shut off the alarm and went back to bed. When Aya came in for his morning threatening, he'd tell him he couldn't work because he was too busy being dead. It sounded pretty good at the time, in fact it sounded really good until the angry swordsman was actually standing in his room.

"Hey…Aya," Yohji greeted around a yawn. Aya narrowed his eyes. "I'll be up in…m'dead. Can't work today."

Aya's eyes somehow narrowed further.

"Um, kidding. I'll be down in a few minutes!" Yohji said, forcing himself up onto his elbows. Aya continued glaring as he edged out of the bedroom and shut the door. Yohji tossed the nearest thing he could reach, which turned out to be his alarm clock, at the door after him.

By the time he'd showered and made it downstairs Omi was just leaving for school.

"Hi Yohji-kun!" Omi smiled brightly at the older assassin, who was bleary eyed and staggering.

"Nnn…" What he'd meant to say was, 'how can you be so cheerful? You've gotten as little sleep as I have, haven't you?' Omi seemed to get the gist of it.

"Oh, I'm just happy! My energy's probably going to give out during Calculus again though…it's kind of lucky I always nap in that class, because now my teacher thinks I'm hypoglycemic and he lets me lay my head down in class and sometimes he sends me to the cafeteria to get snacks, but anyway the point is I talked to Nagi last night and I did what you said-"

"Guh?" Which meant 'what did I say again?'

"You told me to just ask him about it, because then I wouldn't pick the wrong answer. It turns out he didn't really know what to do either and he was really relieved I talked to him! So we decided to do the couple thing like in the West, because that sounds like a lot more fun and that way we don't have to decide who's the boy and who's the girl, you know since we're both boys and so we're going to-"

"Omi...I'm happy for you and all, but I haven't had caffeine yet," Yohji groaned.

"What? Oh, right sorry. I should go anyway. I'm gonna be late for school. Yay! Date, date, date! Date wif mah boyfriend!" Omi sang happily as he pranced out the back door. Yohji stared after him for a moment and shook his head.

He poured himself a cup of coffee and met Aya in the shop for another long shift before what he figured would be an even longer stake-out.

* * *

"What the hell are you doing?" Schuldig asked.

"None of your business…unless you know anything about decoupage?" Nagi asked.

"Can't say that I do."

"Then none of your business," He repeated. The teen hacker was sitting in the Schwarz living room surrounded by stacks of decorative paper, tubes of glitter glue, paper doilies, heart stickers, dried flowers and glue.

"Please say you're not making anything for Tot."

Nagi looked at Schuldig in confusion. "Why would I make a Valentine for Tot?"

Schuldig shrugged. "Just thought I'd check. But you know, I don't think paper Valentines are going to impress your boy all that much. That's the kinda thing you do in grade school."

"I looked online and it said this is what people do for Valentine's day in the West, and Omi and I decided to have a Western style Valentine's day."

"Yeah, I reiterate, in grade school," Schuldig said with amusement.

"I was afraid of that. This seems pretty stupid anyway, and I think I've glued more of my hair onto this paper than glitter," Nagi said with a frown. He held up a lopsided pink heart with doily edges and a cut out kitty head in the center. There were indeed a lot of stringy brown hairs hanging off of it.

Schuldig started out with a modest snigger, but he ended up having to sit down on the couch as he was unable to control his laughter. Nagi frowned and tossed a crumpled first-draft Valentine at his head.

"Fine! If you're so much better at this stuff than me, what are you doing with your Weiss for Valentine's day?" Nagi demanded.

Schuldig sobered up a little bit. "What do you mean? I don't have a Weiss-"

"Omi's determined enough to believe you guys actually broke up, but I wasn't born yesterday Schuldig. You like him."

"I do not," Schuldig denied. "I like sex. There's a difference."

"Uh huh." Nagi looked unimpressed. "People who like sex have it a lot more often than you do, possibly with multiple partners if that's all they're interested in."

"I like sex enough." Schuldig shrugged. He frowned. "The guy's Japanese and we're both guys. I think that pretty much means the holiday is off limits to us."

Nagi rolled his eyes. "Omi and I are both Japanese and we're celebrating. You're a Westerner and Yohji's half Westerner. He might be expecting something."

"He wouldn't."

"He might though," Nagi said with a shrug. "I probably would if I were in his place."

* * *

Schuldig stopped his car in front of a conveni and stared at the front window. There was a big display of boxes of chocolates, surrounded by teddy bears with kitty ear headbands. Schuldig couldn't quite figure out the headbands, and for some reason it further annoyed him.

He laid his arms over the steering wheel and plopped his head down. "Fuck Nagi!" He groaned. "I am NOT in a relationship and I do NOT have to get that fucker a Valentine."

He glanced at the chocolates again. Well, they were cheap. And Yohji wasn't quite as fond of sweets as Schuldig was…whatever he picked out he'd probably get to eat.

Grumbling to himself about the lack of definition in his relationship, Schuldig walked into the store to pick up a box of interest-chocolate.

* * *

"Did anything happen yet?" Yohji asked around a cigarette he was futilely trying to light in the midst of another good downpour. He took Aya's stony silence as a 'no'. "Did you get that stick out of your ass yet," He mumbled.

"Watch it Kudoh," Aya growled.

"Ah, so you _can_ hear me," Yohji assessed. Aya glared at him. Yohji smiled widely at him. He was a little beyond his limit for bullshit and Aya just wouldn't intimidate him the way he normally did. "And I trust the stick is still there."

Aya snarled.

Yohji sat down next to him and peered over the edge of the roof. "Y'think Omi's having better luck?"

"I doubt it," Aya muttered, probably resigning himself to the possibility that Yohji wasn't going to shut up.

"What makes you think that?" Yohji asked, confirming his suspicion.

"Because that would make me happy," Aya explained, eye twitching from annoyance.

Yohji snorted. Aya turned another glare on him. "Look Princess, this hasn't been a good week for any of us. We might as well have a laugh over it. I mean how many shitty things can possibly happen at once?"

"You'd be surprised," Aya growled.

'As though he's the only one of us with a painful past', Yohji thought sourly. He definitely resented Aya's sour disposition. The more firmly the man held onto his grief and anger the harder it was for the rest of them to let their own go.

"Besides, Ken's having a pretty good week," Aya added. Maybe he'd actually noticed Yohji's mood. Whatever the reason, Yohji went with it.

"Yeah he is. Being waited on hand and foot by the rest of us when we're not getting drenched on rooftops or mauled by lovesick teenagers. Ken-Ken's having the time of his life."

"Mm. Next injury I get is going to keep me from being ambulatory. I could use a vacation," Aya agreed.

"Well, think of it this way. As soon as our stake outs bear fruit he gets to pull as many all nighters as it takes analyzing whatever data we finally gather."

Aya snorted. "That's a nice fantasy Kudoh, but I'm not entering the property of a target when Siberian was the one analyzing blueprints."

"Okay, fair point. But still, he can look at a data disc from bed. He's going to at least help."

"Kudoh, movement."

"About fucking time," Yohji muttered under his breath. He put a hand on Aya's shoulder to better lean past him and squint through the rain.

"Can you read lips?" Aya asked.

"When I can see…money's changing hands. I think these are our guys." He'd barely finished speaking before Aya leapt gracefully onto a fire escape and then onto the street below. Yohji followed after, a lot less gracefully as he was conscious of his chances of breaking his neck on the water-slick metal. By the time he wheezed up to the targets Aya was blood spattered and cleaning his katana on the coat of one of the thugs.

"You…okay?" Yohji asked.

Aya stared at him. He held out the data disc the thugs had been selling. "We've got Mizuki's itinerary."

"Right. Are you okay? That all dark beast blood?" Yohji repeated. Aya stalked past him in the direction of Yohji's car. Yohji sighed. "Like talking to a brick wall."

* * *

Aya's brief burst of friendliness failed to return, despite the fact that the night had gone relatively well…other than the fact that they were soaked through from the downpour anyway. Still, after a week's worth of effort they'd finally accomplished something in their mission.

Yohji was able to trudge up to his room at a decent hour, for once. Seven hours of sleep seemed luxurious at this point. He could barely process the thought of being functional in the shop in the morning.

That fantasy went poof when he emerged from the bathroom to find a jittery Omi bouncing on his bed. "Hey Chibi," He tried very hard to remind himself that he was friends with Omi.

"Hi Yohji-kun! Um, I was wondering, um, since you and Aya-kun got in early tonight and you've got some free time-" Free time that was supposed to be sleep, "-if you'd mind talking to me again?"

"What's up?"

"Well, um, I was chatting with Nagi again earlier and, um…we're not sure what we're supposed to do for Valentine's day."

Yohji suppressed an annoyed groan. "Didn't we already talk about that? You're celebrating it like Westerners, right?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't really tell us what we're doing as clearly as we'd thought. According to some commercials I saw on Youtube, I'm supposed to buy him a diamond necklace. That can't be right, can it?"

"I don't know. I thought you were just supposed to have a nice date."

"Oh. Yeah, that makes sense. Maybe we could go see a movie."

_Tell him to bring him flowers and take him to a nice restaurant._

"And bring him flowers and take him to a nice restaurant," Yohji repeated unquestioningly.

"Ooh! Good idea. Thanks Yohji-kun!" Omi left the room giddy with excitement, and Yohji fell gracelessly onto his bed.

He vaguely noticed his bedroom window open, but didn't react. He did groan and roll away when a bony finger poked at his side.

"You okay Kitten?" Schuldig asked.

"M'dead."

"Sorry, but the mighty Oracle said that you Weiss are staying around for at least a few more months. You're not allowed to die until _after_ we don't need you anymore."

"Well okay then." Yohji sat up and made room on the bed for Schuldig. Schuldig curled up against him, shivering. He smelled like sap. "Were you hiding in a tree?"

"Maybe. I thought Bombay was never going to go away."

"He wasn't here _that _long."

"You weren't the one crouched in a freaking tree. Go to sleep Yohji, it's okay. I don't mind napping with you again."

"Thanks Schu…" Yohji groggily murmured before relaxing into their embrace and drifting off.

* * *

Valentine's Day dawned on a Koneko No Sume Ie full of tension. Omi had set up some strategic cameras in front of the store and along the street so that the bishonen could keep an eye on the piles of chocolate accumulating in front of their door. Every time the street was clear of admirers, one of them ducked out and hauled in the boxes.

Ken was looking through a chocolate themed cookbook, dog earing pages that struck his fancy. The store was technically closed, but Aya was working anyway, setting up new displays and making more arrangements, leaving the two tensest of the assassins to commiserate in the living room.

Omi was getting increasingly jumpy the closer it got to his appointed date time with Nagi. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to sneak out without Ken and Aya noticing, which Yohji figured was wasted energy what with the other two being so caught up in their own little worlds (broken-footed chocolate-land seeming much more pleasant than bitter-psycho-florist-land).

Yohji kept waiting for some kind of telepathic flicker from Schuldig. The other assassin had been around kind of a lot lately, and was being unusually, well…_nice_. Even a little clingy. He was almost sure Schuldig would invite him to participate in some kind of Valentine's…thing.

Omi finally went upstairs to get ready for his date, and Yohji was there to see him off and wish him luck. Then, not quite sure what to do with himself, he went into the living room to watch a movie and fell asleep.

He woke up some hours later when Omi was getting back in. Omi was creeping through the living room making only a minute amount of noise, but enough for the assassin training to kick in. Yohji shot bolt upright on the sofa, scaring the bejeezus out of Omi. It was a good thing neither of them actually had their weapons on them, because they would have attacked instinctually.

"Oh, Yohji-kun! You scared me!"

"Sorry Chibi. How was the date?" Yohji asked.

Omi beamed. His hair was messy, his shirt was inside out and he had a massive hickey on his neck.

"Good?"

Omi nodded. "Better than good. Nagi was wonderful! He really liked the flowers, and dinner was so nice…the movie kind of sucked, but we didn't really watch it anyway, so that was okay."

Yohji felt a stab of…was that jealousy? Nah, he was happy for the kid. For some reason happiness felt like jealousy today. Shrugging it off, Yohji yawned and stretched. "Well that's good. I think I'm gonna head to bed and prepare myself for a breakfast coated in melted chocolate."

Omi looked a little green. "I actually forgot about that. Ken was muttering something about chocolate omelets the last time I saw him. You don't think he'd really…?"

"At least he has a cookbook this year."

They headed upstairs, and when they parted ways Omi was still wearing that really goofy smile.

Yohji went for his bed and almost sat on a small box of obligation chocolates. Half of them were eaten and the rest had been stabbed open by a finger.

"Schuldig?" Yohji whispered, feeling confused. It had to be. No one else had an inclination for sneaking into his room at odd hours. But why hadn't he woken Yohji up?

He was probably going to regret this later, but Yohji needed to know. He grabbed his car keys and made his way downstairs as quietly as possible.

* * *

Yohji didn't actually know where the Schwarz lived (if he did, he'd certainly have used his connection to Schuldig to find out more about Aya's sister), but he'd come up with a pretty good guess about the general vicinity based on the junk food Schuldig always showed up at his house with. He drove around that area aimlessly, occasionally shooting out a thought targeted towards Schuldig.

He finally got a response after about an hour of this.

_Will you fucking shut up already?_

_Schu? Are you busy?_

_I _was _sleeping. What is so God damn important all of a fucking sudden?_

Well that was cranky, even for him. And he sounded far too alert to have been sleeping.

_Stop being so perceptive._

_Sorry. It's not like I can turn it off, _Yohji snapped. _Um…did you come by my place earlier?_

_No. Maybe. Yeah. We don't have to talk about it. The chocolates were on sale and I just wanted to eat them, that's all it was. Nothing special._

_Schuldig…if you want to spend Valentine's Day together we still have another hour and a half. _Yohji conjured up some thoughts of places they could go, little hole in the wall restaurants and bakeries that kept weird hours, or even just driving around Tokyo enjoying each other's company. Because Yohji did sincerely enjoy Schuldig's company. _I just didn't know you wanted to do something._

_Well…that last thought did look kinda fun. And the chibis had an annoyingly good night._

_Bet we can have more fun together than the young'uns. _Without noticing he was doing it, Yohji turned down a street he'd never noticed before and pulled over to the side of the road. A few minutes later Schuldig walked up to the car and slid into the passenger seat.

END


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